


I Can Tell That We Are Going to Be Friends

by prettyasadiagram



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 19:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1440613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyasadiagram/pseuds/prettyasadiagram
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s a good thing that Phil isn’t in New York right now, because at this point, Pepper is pretty sure that her first action upon seeing Phil would probably be to kill him again.</p><p>(Or, how Pepper goes from ignoring Agent Coulson to being his friend.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Tell That We Are Going to Be Friends

**Author's Note:**

> The usual disclaimer applies, none of these characters belong to me, etc., etc. Thanks to thatdamneddame for the beta, making me add feelings because I'm a lazy person, and coming up with the title (borrowed from a White Stripes song of the same name).
> 
> No spoilers here for Captain America: The Winter Soldier or SHIELD. And if you've been living under a rock and are surprised that Coulson died/is living again, well, shame on you. 
> 
> Let me know if tags need to be added/edited or if you find any typos, grammatical errors, etc.

The first time Pepper sees him, it’s in passing. He’s standing in the lobby and she just doesn’t have time for him. She notices that his suit doesn’t fit his shoulders and his tie is too wide, his shoes are scuffed and worn and she thinks that government jobs should pay better than his wardrobe belies.

She waves him off to the secretary and doesn’t pay him a second thought.

 

+++

 

His name, apparently, is Agent Phil Coulson.

 

+++

 

The second time, he’s standing in the back of a room full of reporters and Pepper just knows that Tony is about to say something stupid to the press.

When she finally turns to Agent Coulson, she notices that now his suit fits and his tie has pinstripes and is the width of his lapels. His eyes are steady, calm, and Pepper is afraid that she is only prolonging the inevitable until he gets what he wants, whatever that may be. Phil Coulson has the gaze of someone who knows they could outlast a storm and wear down the fucking Grand Canyon. And so she nods and smiles the smile that Tony once told her made lesser men quiver in their handmade Italian leather loafers, tells him she’ll put something in the book and get back to him, does that sound okay?

Phil is no lesser man, but at least now he’ll know that it will be an uphill battle to get to Tony.

 

+++

 

Walking out of Tony’s office, Obadiah calling after her with tension in his voice, Pepper thanks God that chasing after Tony has made her so comfortable with striding around in stilettos. It makes picking up the pace the moment she rounds the corner that much easier.

She spots Coulson waiting in the lobby, flipping through a months old National Geographic. When he rises, asking if she forgot their appointment, it’s not so much that she wants to use him as a human shield if Obadiah gets close—wait, no, that’s exactly what she’s going to do if Obadiah gets too close.

Sorry, Coulson. But she has priorities and right now, he isn’t one of them.

 

+++

 

Turns out it’s a good thing she doesn’t leave him behind, especially when he has his lackeys set up some sort of explosive around the door to the lab. She wonders if she can bill the government for the property damage.

Coulson’s calm demeanor makes her feel like things are going to be OK. Like it doesn’t matter that Obadiah tried to have Tony killed or that Tony has clearly done something stupid again, because the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division have this covered.

(She really does hope that they’re working on a better name, because that actually is a mouthful.)

 

+++

 

Watching Tony dangle from a railing, yelling at her to push the button to overload the arc reactor while he’s directly in its path, is not what Pepper is paid for. She resolves to give herself a raise next quarter.

She blocks out most of what happens next.

 

+++

 

When Coulson tucks index cards into Tony’s hands—telling him that SHIELD has this covered, just stick to the script—Pepper breathes easy for about five minutes. And then Tony does just the opposite: he looks into the crowd and says, “I am Iron Man,” and leaves chaos in his wake.

 

+++

 

The next time she sees Agent Coulson is after Tony makes news again for destroying a racecar track in Monaco. She’s in some small coffee shop near Columbus Circle when she spots him sitting alone at a small table in the corner. Losing her place in line is a small price to pay to get answers.

“Are you following me?” she demands.

He sighs. “Contrary to popular belief, Miss Potts, SHIELD has other things to keep track of than Tony Stark and his newly appointed CEO.”

When he closes his book to face her directly, Pepper spots Mindy Kaling on the cover and has a hard time reconciling this information with the bland look on Coulson’s face. That book is hilarious, but he wasn’t smiling.

She wants to call him out on SHIELD invading their privacy, that information hasn’t been released to the press yet, but—Pepper raises an eyebrow and nods at the book. “Seriously?” 

“Would you prefer to talk about your third grade transcript where your teacher commented, ‘Pepper is a very bright girl, if only she’d stop bullying the boys’?”

Taken aback, Pepper looks at him for a long moment and thinks about all the reasons to avoid this particular government agent. She sits in the empty chair at his table anyway. “I’d forgotten about that.”

“SHIELD hasn’t. Can I get you a coffee?”

And with that, Coulson introduces himself as Phil and Pepper gets a free venti caramel macchiato. 

 

+++

 

Turns out, Phil isn’t a life model decoy or an alien, just very, very good at maintaining a straight face.

 

+++

 

Tony’s birthday party, to put it lightly, is a disaster. When Happy pulls her away, Pepper is one-thousand percent done. By the time the house has stopped shaking, Rhodes is gone, Tony is gone, and she has a text from Phil saying that some agents are on their way over. Pepper doesn’t know whether to be grateful or pissed that Tony’s left her to deal with the fallout.

 

+++

 

There’s a moment the next morning when Pepper considers not going to the office and taking a day for herself, Tony and his issues be damned, but then Natalie reminds her of a meeting with Stark Industries legal team and to be honest, if she doesn’t keep herself busy, she’s going to do something stupid herself.

The day gets better when Natalie tells her that Agent Coulson is watching Tony. Pepper nearly cries laughing listening to Natalie’s recording of Phil saying, “I’ve been authorized by Director Fury to use any means necessary to keep you on premises. If you attempt to leave, or play any games, I will taze you and watch _Supernanny_ while you drool into the carpet.” 

She has Natalie play it again at lunch. It’s all that gets her through the day.

 

+++

 

When she finds out that SHIELD knew Tony was dying, Pepper is not amused. Her sternly worded email to Phil gets no response, but she does get a fruit basket specifically lacking strawberries.

As far as apologies go, she’ll take it. It has the added bonus of driving Tony crazy trying to figure out who sent it.

 

+++

 

Pepper hears about the disturbance in New Mexico on the news, with national networks chalking it up to local gangs on PCP.

She asks Phil about it over tapas. He scowls and mutters about sand, clay, and ridiculous archers.

“Oh my God, Phil, are you blushing?” Pepper coos.

He scowls and throws his napkin at her across the table.

And that is how Pepper learns about Clint Barton’s existence.

 

+++

 

They meet for mini golf one afternoon because Pepper has had three stress headaches this week alone and it’s Phil’s turn to train SHIELD’s new agents. According to him, there have been two broken arms and six minor explosions already. 

It’s cold out and the course is mostly deserted, but Linus the caddy keeps bringing margaritas and Pepper is determined to learn more about Clint Barton than his name and occupation.

Turns out, Pepper's not very good at mini golf, but Phil is some sort of savant. It's just getting to be embarrassing when she strategically asks about Clint and Phil trips walking to the next hole. 

Well. This changes everything.

By the end of the course Phil is losing and blushing furiously and Pepper has discovered that feeling smug makes tackling those obnoxious windmills very, very easy.

 

(Tony calls Pepper and says, “Agent Coulson? Really?”

“What?”

“Happy says you two are canoodling—”

“Seriously? Canoodling? Happy said that specifically?”

“Don’t interrupt, Pep, rude. But yes, _canoodling_. Also, mini golf? Who knew Agent could bend over far enough to use those small putters? What about the stick up his—” 

Pepper laughs and says, “Goodbye, Tony,” ignoring Tony’s cries of “Pepper! Wait, Pep—” before hanging up.)

 

+++

 

Really, it's Phil’s fault that she knows about the Avengers at all. 

Tony tells her he’ll be “consulting” for SHIELD and when Pepper asks Phil, he frowns and asks what Tony said about the Avengers.

After that, she pretty much guilts him into telling her everything. If Tony is going to be doing something stupid, she’d like to be in the know for once.

(Still, she acts surprised when Tony inevitably tells her about it himself. No sense spoiling his fun.)

 

+++

 

Date night with Tony isn’t complete without at least one interruption. Last time it was Dummy dropping a toolbox and breaking something important; the time before it was Tony having an epiphany about an equation that Pepper could not have cared less about. 

Still, as far as interruptions go, Phil isn’t the worst.

 

+++

 

Pepper almost regrets her cheerful greeting when she sees how tense Phil is, but she still can't help needling him just a bit, disavowing knowledge of the Avengers and acknowledging Tony’s faults just to see him suppress a smile. It works for a second, and then Tony calls her over and she can tell that date night is definitely on hold.

 

+++

 

She rides the elevator down with Phil and asks him about the “cellist.” There’s a twist to his mouth when he responds that Pepper doesn’t know what to do with.

But he doesn’t offer more information and she doesn’t press. 

 

(When she comes back up to grab her things, Tony is focused on blueprints and equations, but Pepper isn’t surprised that he spares a second to look up and asks, “Phil?” with a raised eyebrow. “Pretty sure his name is ‘Agent.’”

Pepper smiles and walks off, champagne flute still in hand. She calls over her shoulder, “His mom’s name is Julie. We all had brunch last weekend,” and laughs while Tony squawks in outrage.)

 

+++

 

Tony emails and text and Pepper thinks everything is fine, and then suddenly she’s watching Iron Man streak toward the sky with a missile on his back and everything in her tenses.

She sees the missed call after and refuses to believe the worst when Tony doesn’t pick up and the phone rings and rings until it’s all she can hear.

 

(Phil doesn’t answer either, but she would have been surprised if he had.)

 

+++

 

When a news reporter has footage of Iron Man up and moving, Pepper lets out a choked sob and texts Tony, _don’t you ever do that again_.

She gets Happy on the phone and arranges transportation back to New York. One way or another, she’s getting home. 

 

+++

 

Tony meets her back at the Tower after SHIELD has cleared out. The rest of the Avengers are trailing behind him like ducklings, and he grins. “Mom, can my friends stay the night?”

Pepper looks at them all and sighs. As they stumble past her, Tony introduces them one by one. 

Thor, bless his heart, tells her she has aged marvelously for a Midgardian mother. She knows he’ll apologize when he figures it out, but for now she smiles and sends him along. 

When Tony says, “Hawkeye, aka Clint Barton, archer extraordinaire,” Pepper realizes that this is _Clint_ , this is _Phil’s_ Clint, and she wants to say something, anything, but there’s a blank, dead look on his face and all she can do is nod a greeting.

 

+++

 

When Tony tells her Phil died on the helicarrier, Pepper goes numb. They had a rain check on getting cronuts. She was going to drag him to the next Blackhawks game. 

Pepper understands now why Clint looks like they lost. She spots him sitting on an arm of the couch, bow on the ground, quiver still on his back, with Natalie—no, Natasha—by his side, her hand on his back, pressing a drink into his hand. The blank look on his face hasn’t faded.

For a moment, she considers going over, introducing herself as Phil’s friend and not just Tony’s girlfriend, but she can’t bring herself to intrude on his grief, not now.

There’s nothing she can do but have more bottles of wine brought up from the basement. They’ll need it.

 

+++

 

Tony falls apart and puts himself back together and then puts her back together after Extremis. He promises no more obscene stuffed animals and Pepper is sad that that’s an actual sentence that applies to her life.

Life goes on. She gets _kouign amanns_ with Tony and they’re delicious, but it’s not the same—she’d been looking forward to watching Phil throw down and commandeer cronuts for national security—but it helps ease the ache.

Sometimes she texts with Natasha, just little things about where Pepper found those shoes (Jane Street) or where Natasha found those steamed rice noodles with that sauce combination (Monroe Street). Bruce comes over and keeps Tony busy when he starts to look manic. Pepper ignores the occasional explosion and heavy sigh from Jarvis as he assures her that Mr. Stark is still in one piece, but the Jaguar not so much. 

The Avengers save the world a couple times and Pepper suffers through press conferences more awkward than anything Tony has ever given. If she never hears a question about how Natasha gets in and out of her uniform so quickly again, she’ll be happy. The only upside is that Thor cannot be embarrassed and is quick to call people out in his usual affable manner. It’s very hard to pursue a line of underwear questioning when a Norse god tells you about his preference to go commando. 

So yes, life goes on. 

 

+++

 

Pepper finds out Phil is still alive by accident: she watches the news.

There’s a second of his profile and then the view is cut off, but she knows it’s him. He’s getting careless if he’s letting himself be caught on camera. Behind her, she hears Tony complaining and arguing with Jarvis if it’s morally responsible to infect SHIELD with porn subscriptions for this betrayal.

She texts Phil. _You owe me drinks. Lots of drinks. And a cronut. But I’ll settle for coffee._

His reply is instantaneous. _I’m in the city next weekend. The usual place?_

_Yes. Try not to be late this time._

When she puts her phone down, Pepper breathes hard through her nose and swallows her anger. It won’t do her any good, not right now. 

But oh, do her palms itch to slap him.

 

+++

 

It’s a good thing that Phil isn’t in New York right now, because at this point, Pepper is pretty sure that her first action upon seeing Phil would probably be to kill him again.

 

+++

 

By Saturday, with liberal application of dirty martinis and _The Princess Bride_ , Pepper has mostly come to terms with the fact that Phil let everyone mourn and grieve and rage over him for months. She has to assume there was a reason, and maybe he’ll tell her and maybe he won’t. Maybe he can’t. 

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, that she’s not bitter he wasn’t around to properly introduce her to Clint or to share her joy when Mindy and Danny finally kissed (because it was everything they’d hoped for), but he’s back and the rest will come with time. 

(It’s an irritating and frustrating lesson she learned from dealing with Tony over the years, and she can already picture Phil’s face at being compared to Tony.)

 

+++

 

Pepper walks into a small coffee shop near Columbus Circle and sees Phil, back from the dead, with a venti caramel macchiato and a distinctive and ridiculous gold box waiting for her. 

Her palms still ache to give him a good slap and there are explanations to be provided, but those can wait. Right now she’ll settle for a good cry, free coffee, and guilt tripping Phil into buying her a heinous amount of macarons. Bouchon Bakery is within walking distance and she’s craving pistachio.

**Author's Note:**

> Please do not repost this work in its entirety or share this work on third-party websites such as Goodreads.


End file.
